[PATCH] lib/bootconfig: fix undefined behavior involving NULL pointer arithmetic
From: Bradley Morgan <hidden>
Date: 2026-06-28 11:56:24
Also in:
lkml, stable
Subsystem:
extra boot config, library code, the rest · Maintainers:
Masami Hiramatsu, Andrew Morton, Linus Torvalds
When xbc_snprint_cmdline() is called during the size-probing phase
(with buf = NULL and size = 0), the function computes the end pointer
as 'buf + size' (NULL + 0) and repeatedly advances the pointer via
'buf += ret'.
Under the C standard, performing pointer arithmetic on a NULL pointer is
undefined behavior. While harmless inside the kernel, this code is also
compiled into the userspace host tool 'tools/bootconfig', where host
compilers with UBSan or FORTIFY_SOURCE enabled abort the build when they
detect NULL pointer arithmetic.
Fix this by tracking the running written length as an integer offset
('len') rather than advancing 'buf' directly. Only perform pointer
arithmetic if 'buf' is actually non-NULL.
Fixes: 5a643e462323 ("bootconfig: move xbc_snprint_cmdline() to lib/bootconfig.c")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Assisted-by: Gemini:gemini-3.5-flash
Signed-off-by: Bradley Morgan <redacted>
---
lib/bootconfig.c | 19 ++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/lib/bootconfig.c b/lib/bootconfig.c
index f445b7703fdd..0181459505b7 100644
--- a/lib/bootconfig.c
+++ b/lib/bootconfig.c@@ -410,8 +410,6 @@ const char * __init xbc_node_find_next_key_value(struct xbc_node *root, static char xbc_namebuf[XBC_KEYLEN_MAX] __initdata; -#define rest(dst, end) ((end) > (dst) ? (end) - (dst) : 0) - /** * xbc_snprint_cmdline() - Render bootconfig keys under @root as a cmdline string * @buf: Destination buffer (may be NULL when @size is 0 to query the length)
@@ -427,8 +425,8 @@ static char xbc_namebuf[XBC_KEYLEN_MAX] __initdata; int __init xbc_snprint_cmdline(char *buf, size_t size, struct xbc_node *root) { struct xbc_node *knode, *vnode; - char *end = buf + size; const char *val, *q; + size_t len = 0; int ret; xbc_node_for_each_key_value(root, knode, val) {
@@ -439,10 +437,12 @@ int __init xbc_snprint_cmdline(char *buf, size_t size, struct xbc_node *root) vnode = xbc_node_get_child(knode); if (!vnode) { - ret = snprintf(buf, rest(buf, end), "%s ", xbc_namebuf); + ret = snprintf(buf ? buf + len : NULL, + size > len ? size - len : 0, + "%s ", xbc_namebuf); if (ret < 0) return ret; - buf += ret; + len += ret; continue; } xbc_array_for_each_value(vnode, val) {
@@ -452,17 +452,18 @@ int __init xbc_snprint_cmdline(char *buf, size_t size, struct xbc_node *root) * whitespace. */ q = strpbrk(val, " \t\r\n") ? "\"" : ""; - ret = snprintf(buf, rest(buf, end), "%s=%s%s%s ", + ret = snprintf(buf ? buf + len : NULL, + size > len ? size - len : 0, + "%s=%s%s%s ", xbc_namebuf, q, val, q); if (ret < 0) return ret; - buf += ret; + len += ret; } } - return buf - (end - size); + return len; } -#undef rest /* XBC parse and tree build */
--
2.53.0